Surrendering Fear. Exercising Faith. Living Free.

So as most of you know, we moved to Atlanta, GA this past week. This was a huge decision for us, and boy oh boy did we go back and forth. We prayed over it a lot and didn't feel like God was leading us to Atlanta. In fact, I actually felt pretty convicted of the fact that God was asking us to stay in Buffalo to focus on growing in our faith through all the classes and ministries at our church, and to trust that HE would provide for us when it didn't look like my husband's salary would do a very good job of that. He hadn't had any luck finding a job in Buffalo for months and when he did it was a lower salary than he has ever had and one we knew we would have trouble getting by on, let alone continuing to save for a house. Appearances aside, because obviously staying in Buffalo didn't seem like a "smart" decision, I felt led to Matthew 6:33, which talks about not worrying about the things we need, like clothing or food: "But seek FIRST his kingdom a

As I continue to grow in the Lord, I'm finding it challenging to trust him. I say I trust him of course, and it's easy to trust him when things are going well, but the moment an unexpected trial or hardship strikes, I often notice that trust begins to waver. Other times the peace I feel (thanks to him) in the face of adversity surprises me, but then as I continue to walk it out day after day, as other things happen to tempt me or weigh me down even more, that's when I start to lack trust. Because what is trust? The definition from Dictionary.com says "reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety of a person or thing; confidence." So if I say that I trust God, that means I know I can rely on him, no matter how bad things get or how bleak they seem. I can rely on his integrity, his strength, and his ability. Of course I can; he's GOD! He is perfect, all-knowing, unconditionally-loving, forgiving, helping, encouraging...everything! I find the last word of